The Dow Jones Is Up 146 Points in Unemployment Numbers Upset
The stock markets are looking up today following a report from the US Labor Department on unemployment claims.
Joblessness was expected to increase with the new report, but that wasn’t the case. Instead of increasing to 219,000, they fell to 212,000, which spurred the market to unexpected gains.
The Dow Jones jumped 0.35%, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.09%. Rounding out the top three stock market indexes is the Nasdaq Composite with a loss of 0.23%. Gold and oil both showed improvement as a result, bringing an overall positive report for Thursday.
On the downside, sales were down for the US, dropping just 0.8% from the previous month. It is typical for January to show lower sales numbers, though. This is a larger than expected drop, as estimates put the sales decline at 0.1%.
Oil is recovering after losing ground on Wednesday, and gold is making small steps forward at least partially off the back of Middle East tensions.
Which Stocks Made Big Moves?
A few stocks experienced substantial change, including Crocs (COX), which gained 7.5%. JFrog (FROG) rocketed upward by 20%, and UnitedHealth (UNH) rose by 3.58%.
The Disney (DIS) stock has been doing incredible numbers recently, but its momentum has slowed down considerably lately. The joblessness report did not affect this stock at all, as it gained only 0.59% on Thursday.
Microsoft had been seeing some impressive gains as of late, but it fell 4.46% from the day. That decline followed sales outlook data that was less than stellar. The company also posted disappointing news about the costs of its artificial intelligence ventures. These will now cost more than expected, and this news helped drive the stock down for several days in a row.
After the Dow Jones fell 500 on Wednesday, today’s recovery will help keep the market vibrant.
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